AHH....RANGER!

Last Friday was Daniel's Ranger school graduation. I drove the almost 9 hours down to Ft. Benning the night before graduation, that way I could stay for the week! My trip down was one for the books...between the monsoon and tornado, it wasn't too bad! Yes, you heard right a tornado. I was almost to the top of Mt. Eagle and I couldn't take it any longer, I had to pull off in a rest area. It was storming like crazy and I was leery of driving up the mountain anyways, without the storm, so I pulled off. Once I was in the rest area a trucker informed me that a tornado had just touched down on Mt. Eagle. Great, all I wanted was to be down the mountain with no problems and be on my way to Ft. Benning. I wasn't going to chance it...so I waited for about 15 to 20 minutes and made it down the mountain with ease.

Friday was a great day. What Daniel accomplished was phenomenal. Ranger school is 61 days of physical and mental exhaustion. Going off of about 45 minutes of sleep a night, a Ranger must be able to preform a mission that is up to the tactical, techinical and profiency level the Army expects. The Ranger goes through three different phases, Darby phase, Mountain phase, and Swamp phase. Each phase offers a new challenge that pushes the Ranger to preform at the best of his abilities. Most Rangers will recycle one of the phases if not more. So for Daniel to go straight through is a pretty big deal! I am so proud of him and all that he accomplished. To find out more about Ranger school and watch what Daniel did this 8 part video is great.